Shufu Well-Represented at Kata World Championships

October 21, 2017

Lisa Capriotti and Rob Gouthro performing Kime No Kata

by Karl Tamai/Diane Jackson

Two Shufu Yudanshakai teams participated at the 2017 Kata World Championships in Sardinia, Italy. The Ju no kata team Karl Tamai and Diane Jackson practice at College Park Judo and Hui-O Judo in Maryland. The Kime no Kata team of Robert Gouthro and Lisa Capriotti practice at Samurai Judo in Charleston, South Carolina. The USA team also included a Florida team of Gerardo Tello and Sergio Suguieda competing in Nage no Kata; and a California team of Bryce Oishi and Chase Oishi competing in Katame no Kata.

Karl Tamai and Diane Jackson performing Ju No Kata

The Kata World Championships included a new format. The first change included age divisions. The kata teams were divided to under 35 and over 35 divisions, as determined by the age of tori. There were previously no age distinctions in the competition. Both age divisions in all of the katas were competed on the first day as a Grand Slam event. The second day only the top teams from each age division competed in the World Championships. Countries were limited to seven teams, and only one team per age division. If two teams from the same country qualified for the World Championships, then only the team with the highest points advanced to the second day.

Bryce and Chase Oishi performing Katame No Kata

It is awesome to (see) competition at the World Championship level. The competition is dominated by Japan and teams from the European Judo Union. The judges are primarily from the European Judo Union. In order to advance the performance of the kata teams from the United States, the US Kata Committee moved to a scoring system at the Senior Nationals to be more in line with the IJF scoring criteria. The PanAmerican Confederation included kata in the PJC championships in 2016 and 2017. Additionally the PJC held a continental judges certification in Canada, to help promote the kata judges from within our own judo confederation.

We need to continue to raise the level of performance from our US kata teams.

Gerardo Tello and Sergio Suguieda performing Nage No Kata

To do this we should continue to advance our US kata judges to continental certification and the PanAmerican kata judges to IJF certification. We need to bring in European kata judges to help educate the kata players and the US judges on what the IJF and the European judges are looking for in terms of technical proficiency. And we need to look for more exposure in kata competitions on the international level. I think we have made some significant strides with the US kata teams over the last five years, and we look forward to more opportunities in 2018.

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